Help with bugs! Ew! Yuck! Can anyone help? (Palmetto: house, living)

[LuvOrlando]

First, I have a clean house. Very clean. Frequently teased about how ridiculous I am (and I am) about being clean and orderly. Dishes washed before going in dishwasher. Since taking up residence in Florida, food in containers.

This cannot be an issue of not being clean!

I also have Orkin, who I will call...but I'm kind of freaked out.

Came home after three days to find that my patio and pool are infested with small, ant-like bugs with wings. They're growing on strings, hanging from the screen thing. They are all over the surface of the pool, some alive, some dead. They're everywhere! And they're in the house! (Why? How?)

Ew.

Yuck.

I tried taking a broom to the strings of them and skimmed them out of the pool. Bugs were falling on me. I literally pinched myself to see if I was having a nightmare. Then I tried Raid, but it mostly just fell on me. Still, I kept going after them...until my face started burning and I had to shower.

I also have a duck that took up residence in my mulch and sits on her eggs almost all the time. I didnt want to fool with Mother Nature and have been leaving her alone to do what she does. I hope that hasn't brought about bugs. She's been there since Easter and this just started, so I don't *think* this could be related, but I don't know...

They're mostly gone after my bug rampage, but some strings on the screen thingy were just too high up to get.

Does anyone else have this problem?

Do you know what they are? Is this a Florida thing or is something wrong with my patio?

I pray Orkin can get rid of them.

Yick!!!!!

[FloridaNative35]

When I hear "ant-like with wings" I instantly think termites.

But I've never encountered anything that hangs from strings.

[LuvOrlando]

Originally Posted by FloridaNative35

When I hear "ant-like with wings" I instantly think termites.

But I've never encountered anything that hangs from strings.

Thank you!

Now I know this isn't a typical thing, but my own personal hell.

I'm getting Orkin out here tomorrow.

[Pete C]

They are probably just lovebugs, which come in droves at this time of year. They only last a few weeks and are completely harmless.

[LuvOrlando]

Originally Posted by Pete C

They are probably just lovebugs, which come in droves at this time of year. They only last a few weeks and are completely harmless.

I've seen lovebugs. They're big. Well, they are compared to these. These are little.

Oop. It just occurred to me that they could maybe be baby lovebugs. I wonder do they come out as unloving babies and grow or do they first show up full grown and paired?

Oh, I would love them to be lovebugs.

[Alyzza]

I've been living down here quite awhile and have seen plenty of bugs but haven't seen any hanging from string like things. We have mud daubers on the front door. We have lots of ants and they go to the pool for water. There are so many in there that they are like little living bridges. We have some spiders around in webs but not strings.. That sounds so odd! We have little white moths that have suddenly appeared and I hope they will disappear just as quickly. I saw some lovebugs a few weeks ago, and thank goodness there weren't bazillions of them like there were a couple years ago. Palmetto bugs often sneak into the laundry room from the garage. Some chinch bugs in the yard.

The ants that have always had a few favorite hangouts in the house. I sprinkled cinnamon around there and that kept them down but not away.

I have a very good bug man who I called yesterday and he came out today, so now I'm confident that'll I'll be relatively bug free for awhile. Doesn't seem to matter how clean you are, the little buggers still show up.

If you find out what kind of creatures you have hanging from strings, please let us know what they are. I've just never seen anything like that around our place anyway. Good luck on getting rid of them.

[HomesickFloridian]

Sounds like termites that have swarmed and many have been caught in fine spider webs high up on your screens you never noticed until they caught the termites.

That's the good news, the bad news is if they're inside your screen likely you have a termite infestation in your house and they swarm when the location is too small for the hive and then they sprout wings split apart and relocate to a larger location but to have been inside your screen indicates a possible infestation in your house..

[annerk]

I agree that it sounds like termites. Windex kills the ones you can see, but you need a good termite company to get to the colony and the queen or they'll eat the house down around you.